Archives for May 2019

(Chuck Muth) – There’s a creepy lawyer/televangelist in Reno, Jason Guinasso, who’s on a moral crusade to shut down all of Nevada’s legal brothels. He’s not only pressuring the Nevada Legislature to do so, but has filed a federal lawsuit asking Washington, DC to do it for him.

But there’s something even more sinister about what Guinasso is up to.

When you apply for a job, you fill out an employment application. But when you apply for a job with a gaming, liquor or brothel business in Nevada, you must also fill out a separate application with the government in order to receive a “work card” allowing you to work in those industries.

And for two years now Guinasso has been badgering, pestering, threatening and berating Lyon County officials in an effort to force the local sheriff to give him copies of all the brothel work card applications for the past ten years.

And those applications contain a TON of highly personal information, including…

Real name, as well as “stage” name

Social Security number

Home addresses for last three years

Date and place of birth

Passport number

Child support information

Race

“Tattoos, piercings, marks & major scars”

Emergency contact info (often provided w/o contact’s knowledge)

Previous employers for past three years

This information – which individuals are required to provide the government in order to work – should never be made public for any private citizen seeking employment in any private business. At the very least it makes them far more vulnerable to identity theft.

But it’s even more dangerous than that.

While there aren’t a lot of mentally unstable, potentially violent stalkers out there showing up at the homes and businesses of liquor store clerks and blackjack dealers, the same can’t be said for the women who work in Nevada’s legal brothels.

Just last week, brothel worker Tiara Tae posted the following on Twitter…

“A client came up to my personal door last night asking for sexual favors. MY HOUSE DOOR. MY HOME.”

In a separate incident, former brothel worker and UNLV researcher Christina Parreira tweeted the following – again, just a week ago…

“(T)his is still one of the creepiest things that can happen to a sex worker. A man came up (to her current non-brothel place of employment), asked for me and did not give his name when I introduced myself; said he knew me from every Twitter account I have.”

And if you don’t think this sort of thing is not only creepy but extremely dangerous, consider the following warning notice that was posted at one of Nevada’s legal brothels last month…

“This guy frequents (brothel name redacted). He is stalking one of the girls, waiting outside her home, chasing her thru the streets of Reno. Has beat her up, knocked her teeth out, put sugar in her gas tank, calls her 100’s of x’s per day. He needs to not to be allowed in, he’s dangerous.”

So there is a clear and present danger to these women should their personal information be made public through a public records request.

And whether you agree with legal brothels or not, I think we can all agree the women who work there shouldn’t have their teeth knocked out, right?

Oh, and just for the record, note that this attack happened OUTSIDE the brothel. Inside the brothel the women are protected. It’s on the street where the true danger lurks.

OK. NRS 239.0105 declares that certain public records are considered confidential if they “contain the name, address, telephone number or other identifying information of a natural person” under certain specified circumstances.

Unfortunately, work card applications are not currently included. But a short 9-word “Brothel Work Card Confidentiality” amendment to the statute would fix the problem.

Simply change the language to state that records containing such personal information are considered confidential if the person is providing the information to a local government entity for the purpose of “Applying to work at a duly licensed legal brothel.”

Or similar words to that effect.

That would exempt brothel work card applications from Nevada’s public records law and shut Guinasso down in his tracks.

Unfortunately, it’s too late in this legislative session to introduce a new bill to amend NRS 239. However…

It’s NOT too late to amend an existing bill to accomplish the same end. The only criteria is that the amendment be “germane” – meaning it’s relevant to the subject matter of the bill under consideration.

Which brings us to SB388 – a bill sponsored by Sen. Mo Denis (D-Las Vegas) which was heard by the Senate Finance Committee on Monday.

The big question is this: Is the issue of making work card applications confidential “germane” to the bill? Well, the bill’s title reads…

“AN ACT relating to public records; providing for the designation of certain public records and portions of public records as confidential…”

I don’t know how it could be any more germane, especially since the Legislature has Humpty Dumpty-like powers to make “germane” mean whatever they want it to mean.

SB388 amends NRS 239 to read as follows…

“Except as otherwise provided in subsection 3, a record or portion of a record that contains personally identifiable information collected by automated means over the Internet or other digital network by a governmental entity as part of the electronic collection of information from the general public is confidential if the governmental entity determines that the disclosure of the personally identifiable information could potentially create negative consequences, including, without limitation, financial loss, stigmatization, harm to reputation, anxiety, embarrassment, fear or other physical or emotional harm, for the person to whom the information pertains.”

Now, the public disclosure of brothel work card applications absolutely could potentially create negative consequences such as stigmatization, anxiety, embarrassment, fear, or other physical or emotional harm for the women who seek to obtain such employment.

Seriously. It just doesn’t get any more “germane” than that.

But here’s the problem…

Work card applications aren’t completed and submitted “by automated means” online over the Internet. You still have to fill them out by hand and submit an old-fashioned paper-and-ink form.

But a simple tweaking of the text specifically declaring work card applications to be confidential regardless of how they are submitted would do the trick.

And the one person in Carson City with the ability to make this happen is Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D-Las Vegas).

Sen. Cannizzaro is a Deputy District Attorney for Clark County, so she’s more than familiar with the very real dangers sex workers face.

And as the Senate Majority Leader she has near-godlike power to declare a brothel work card confidentiality amendment – which really should include gaming and liquor work applications, as well – to be “germane” to SB388 and throw her full support behind it.

Without Sen. Cannizzaro’s support right now – before the bill’s final version is voted on and the 2019 session ends – the women who work in Nevada’s legal brothels risk having their personal information disclosed through a public records request from people like Guinasso and the guy who knocked one worker’s teeth out last month.

So if you want to see a “Brothel Work Card Confidentiality Amendment” added to SB388 (or any other “germane” bill that’s still out there), you need to contact Sen. Cannizzaro and let her know not only how important this is, but explain why the problem should be fixed now and not wait for two years until the next legislative session.

(Aoife Bannon | Irish Sun) – Alice Little, 27 — who is just 4ft 8in — began working at the famous Moonlite Bunny Ranch in Carson City, Nevada, three years ago.

With sessions starting from $2,000, Alice revealed how she works up to 80 hours a week — including her work as a sex educator, sex toy reviewer and sex writer.

And Alice — who was just five when her family left Dublin for the US — says she loves that her work allows her to form personal connections with clients, who are often surprised by her normal upbringing.

She said: “Everyone has their preconceived notions of what a sex worker looks, sounds and acts like.

“But I don’t fit any of those stereotypes. I’m a petite Irish lady standing just 4 feet, 8 inches tall.

“I’m well-educated and well-spoken. I’m not the victim of tragic circumstance. I had options and I chose to be a legal sex worker. Yes, on purpose!”

(Chuck Muth) – A pair of anti-brothel crusaders, Melissa Holland and Laila Mickelwait, inked a column on Friday that once again demonstrates exactly why they hide behind blog posts, social media and videos…

Like vampires, the light of day kills their arguments.

Indeed, when brothel-banner Julie Bindel went head-to-head against UNLV brothel researcher Christina Parreira in a BBC-hosted debate last month, Parreira cleaned Bindel’s clock. Shot down every one of her arguments like Tom Cruise shooting down those Russian MiG’s over the Indian Ocean in “Top Gun.”

It’s also why, during last fall’s campaign in Lyon County, Nevada to ban legal brothels there, the ballot question sponsors refused to debate the issue in a series of townhall meetings with Alice Little and Ruby Rae, a pair of legal courtesans at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch.

They KNEW Alice and Ruby would rip their arguments to shreds if they were actually forced to back up their misrepresentations and propaganda.

Which is why Holland, Mickelwait and others hide behind blog posts and videos. Their arguments and claims simply can’t survive scrutiny and cross-examination.

For example, Holland and Mickelwait started off yesterday’s disinformation blog post thusly…

“Forty-eight years ago prostitution was legalized in Nevada and as a result, Nevada has developed into a breeding ground for sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. In fact, Nevada has the highest rate of prostitution in the country – its illegal sex trade is 63% higher than the next highest state.”

First off, prostitution wasn’t legalized in Nevada. What actually happened is that Nevada allowed rural counties to legalize, license and regulate brothels if they so chose. Brothels were NOT legalized in Clark and Washoe counties – where Las Vegas and Reno are located.

As such, it’s a darn-near criminal misrepresentation to claim that “Nevada” is a “breeding ground” for sex trafficking when those highly-questionable statistics are actually based on Las Vegas and Reno where legal brothels are banned.

Buy, hey, why let facts get in the way of a false argument designed to create mass hysteria, right?

Next comes the claim that “legal prostitution increases the demand for prostitution.”

Oh, puh-lease. The nearest legal brothel to the Las Vegas Strip is almost 90 minutes away. Which means most clients and providers of consensual adult sexual interaction opt for the risk of engaging illegally in their Las Vegas hotel room rather than spend three hours driving back-and-forth in a car.

The notion that a legal brothel located an hour-and-a-half away “increases the demand” for sex-for-fee services is laughable on its face.

Of course, no hysteria-inducing propaganda campaign is complete without invoking “the children.”

“In Nevada alone,” Holland and Mickelwait blubber, “there is a demand for over 20,000 innocent women and children sold online every year.”

Source? Back-up? Substantiation?

None. Of course.

“In order to abolish sex trafficking, we must eliminate the demand for prostitution,” the Disinformation Duo continues. “The demand elimination strategy is the only way to put pimps and traffickers out of business.”

First, you’re never going to “eliminate the demand” for paid sex. That’s why it’s called the “world’s oldest profession.”

Secondly, the “demand elimination strategy” has never worked and never will. Let history be your guide. Remember “prohibition” on alcohol and gaming? And how’s that “war on drugs” thing worked out?

You’re barking up the wrong tree, ladies. As failed social experiments go, your “demand elimination strategy” is right there at the top of the list.

They did get one thing correct, though, when they argued that “women in prostitution shouldn’t be arrested.” Which, ahem, is exactly the case when it comes to Nevada’s legal brothels – which they’re trying to shut down!

But then they go on to argue that, instead, the clients “should be arrested and their crimes should be felony-level offenses.”

Um, why should a consensual act between two adults be illegal for one party but not the other? Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

This ridiculous proposal is what’s called the “Nordic model” – a thoroughly discredited idea that supporters trot out as some kind of silver bullet that’ll cleanse society and usher in a new Era of Moral Nirvana.

It’s a future best viewed through rose-colored glasses while riding a unicorn.

“Legal prostitution in Nevada has brought severe harm to the women and girls who’ve been pulled into prostitution over the last 48 years,” Holland and Mickelwait conclude. “It’s time to end the toxic prostitution industry in Nevada. It has to stop. Now.”

Because (heads up Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority): “Nevada is not safe for women.”

Except…

That opinion isn’t shared by the grown, adult, consenting women who actually work in Nevada’s legal brothels. Here’s just a small sampling of their take on the subject…

• “In the brothels, we have the choice, always, to say which clients we will say yes and no to. We have staff that would never let a man hurt us, and we have a clientele that do not come here to hurt us.” – Ruby Rae

• “I’m not ‘exploited.’ I’m not ‘trafficked.’ I’m not ‘brainwashed.’ I don’t need to be ‘saved.’ I’ve freely chosen this line of work, which is a legal, private transaction between consenting adults.” – Paris Envy

• “We are human beings who chose to do sex work of our own free will. We get treated with respect and like family at the brothels. It’s a job just like any other job. We sell a service that all humans need.” – Kiki Lover

• “Sex work is definitely not my last resort or my only option – it is my CHOICE. I’d like to continue to have the opportunity to make that choice legally.” – Christina Parreira

(Las Vegas Weekly – EXCERPT) – Originally hailing from California, (Violet Vause and Kayden Blake) have been married for two years and together for eight. They just bought their first home in Las Vegas, where they spend half their time. The other half is spent at Sheri’s Ranch, a legal brothel in Pahrump, where they both work as prostitutes. . . .

Hundreds work in the Silver State’s brothels, which are permitted in counties with fewer than 700,000 residents. Nevada is the only state in which the practice remains legal in some form, but prostitution here has long faced its share of critics.

Although threats to the industry were heightened during this Nevada legislative session, legal brothels appear to have emerged relatively unscathed as the session draws to a close. A Senate bill that would have outlawed all brothels died in April.

The state is still grappling with a lawsuit filed by a former prostitute alleging that Nevada’s legal brothels facilitate and sanction sex trafficking, but the initial buzz around that suit has quieted down—at least for now.

In the midst of these controversies as well as the perpetual stigma associated with sex work, Kayden and Violet sat down with Las Vegas Weekly to share their personal experiences working at Sheri’s, their take on the politics of prostitution in Nevada and the unique details of their relationship.

(Johnathan L. Wright | Reno Gazette Journal) – At the Mustang Ranch brothel 15 miles east of Reno, the chief attraction needs no explanation, of course, although for specifics, the website offers a “pleasure menu” notable for its enthusiastic descriptions and sheer variety.

But carnal pleasures aren’t the only thing on the menu at Mustang Ranch. These days, there’s an increasing emphasis on the pleasures of the table.

“We don’t do racy,” said brothel owner Lance Gilman, affable developer of the nearby Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, home to Google, Tesla, Switch and more than 100 other companies.

“How do we give people a reason to come out more? Better things, better dishes, are part of that.”

Instead, the brothel’s public restaurant, called the Mustang Ranch Lounge, offers a menu (breakfast, lunch, dinner) that runs to more than 60 dishes, from biscuits and gravy to burgers with ghost chili accents to horseradish-spiked halibut with spring asparagus.

If you didn’t know otherwise, the Mustang Ranch menu could be from any American restaurant geared toward a mainstream audience, a place trying to mix comfort food, a few culinary trends and moments of fine dining.

And that’s the point, Gilman said, attracting not just customers headed into the brothel, and not just longtime locals who make the trip for “a beer and a burger with the boys,” but also tech workers at TRIC companies, construction workers at area projects, visitors to events and conventions in Reno, and folks passing through who simply want to say (on social media) they had a bite at a famous brothel.

“How do we attract people who have never been out here?” added Donny Gilman, who helps his father run the ranch. “How do we give people a reason to come out more? Better things, better dishes, are part of that.”

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Suzette Cole, CEO, Moonlite Bunny Ranch

“Prostitution is the oldest profession and will not go away. Nevada has been doing it right since 1971 when we took it out of the criminal’s hands and put it into a highly-regulated industry. As an added benefit, there has never been a case of HIV/AIDS in the history of legal brothels here…and you can’t say that about any other profession in the United States.”

John Stossel, Syndicated Columnist

“We don’t have to cheer for prostitution, or think it’s nice, to keep government out of it and let participants make up their own minds. It’s wrong to ban sex workers’ options just to make ourselves feel better.”

Steve Chapman, Syndicated Columnist

“Prohibition doesn’t eliminate the harms generally associated with prostitution, such as violence, human trafficking and disease. On the contrary, it fosters them by driving the business underground.”

Christina Parreira, UNLV Researcher/Sex Worker

“Sex work is my CHOICE. I’d like to continue to have the opportunity to make that choice legally. We don’t need protection. We’re consenting, adult women.”

New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried

“Trying to stop sex work between consenting adults should not be the business of the criminal justice system.”

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker

“Yes, sex work should be decriminalized. As a general matter, I don’t believe that we should be criminalizing activity between consenting adults, and especially when doing so causes even more harm for those involved.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders

“I think the idea of legalizing prostitution is something that should be considered…(and) certainly needs to be discussed.”

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris

“When you’re talking about consenting adults, I think that, yes, we should really consider that we can’t criminalize consensual behavior, as long as no one is being harmed. … We should not be criminalizing women who are engaged in consensual opportunities for employment.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren

“I believe humans should have autonomy over their own bodies and they get to make their own decisions.”

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

“If a consenting adult wants to engage in sex work, that is their right, and it should not be a crime. All people should have autonomy over their bodies and their labor.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper

“Legalizing prostitution and regulating it, so there are norms and protections and we understand more clearly how people are being treated and make sure we prevent abuse, I think it should be really looked at.”

Mike Gravel, former Alaska Senator

“Sex workers are workers, and they deserve the dignity and respect that every worker deserves. For too long, we’ve denied them that. Sex workers, not politicians, should lead the way in crafting sex work policy.”

Prof. Ronald Weitzer, George Washington University:

“Unlike illegal street prostitution in many other places, Nevada’s legal brothels do not disturb public order, create nuisances, or negatively impact local communities in other ways. Instead, they provide needed tax revenue for cash-strapped rural towns.”

Prof. Barbara Brents, UNLV author, “State of Sex”:

“Teams of scholars…have concluded that Nevada’s legal brothels provide a far safer environment for sex workers than the criminalized system in the rest of the United States.”

Prof. Sarah Blithe, UNR author, “Sex and Stigma”:

“Discussions of legal prostitution are rife with misinformation. Academic work and popular press publications alike often conflate legal prostitution in the United States with illegal prostitution.”

Lee Herz Dixon:

“Do I think eradicating legal prostitution from all Nevada counties will erase the practice of the oldest profession in the state, or break the nexus of drugs, crime, and exploitation of the vulnerable? I do not.”

Journalist Michael Cernovich:

“It’s empirically proven that criminalizing sex work allows children to be sex trafficked more readily as they are afraid to turn to authorities and wonder if they will be arrested.”

Enrique Carmona:

“We need to put aside moralistic prejudices, whether based on religion or an idealistic form of feminism, and figure out what is in the best interests of the sex workers and public interest as well.”

Ruby Rae, professional courtesan

“In the brothels, we have the choice, always, to say which clients we will say yes and no to. We have staff that would never let a man hurt us, and we have a clientele that do not come here to hurt us.”

Kiki Lover, professional courtesan:

“We are human beings who chose to do sex work on our own free will. We get treated with respect and like family at the brothels. It’s a job just like any other job. We sell a service that all humans need.”

Paris Envy, professional courtesan:

“I’m not ‘exploited.’ I’m not ‘trafficked.’ I’m not ‘brainwashed.’ I don’t need to be ‘saved.’ I’ve freely chosen this line of work, which is a legal, private transaction between consenting adults.”

Alice Little, professional courtesan:

“It’s ILLEGAL sex work that exploits children. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that traffics. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that sees women exploited and abused by pimps.”

Jim Shedd, Nevadan

“Prostitution should be licensed, regulated, taxed like any other service industry. There are many single or widowed men and women who should be able to take advantage of such services provided by consenting adults for consenting adults. Let’s act to at least reduce illegal sex trafficking and other sex crimes by creating safe and legal outlets for paying adults who wish to use them.”

Paul Bourassa, brothel customer:

“Some people are just never given a chance in the dating scene, so brothels offer those of us with no experience a chance to learn what it’s like to be on a date.”

Lewis Dawkins, brothel customer:

“It’s not always about sex. Little compliments and encouragements offered by the ladies help build my self-confidence. It’s a business, yes. But the ladies care personally about their clients. That means a lot.”

Brett Caton, brothel customer:

“I think brothels provide an important function in society. Legal ones give a safe outlet to their customers and for some men it is the only way they get so much as a hug.”

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Mission

The Nevada Brothel Association PAC is a coalition of legal brothel owners, brothel workers, brothel clients and brothel supporters dedicated to defending a woman’s right to choose professional sex work as a career, protecting the public’s health and safety, and preserving Nevada’s rich live-and-let-live heritage.